Views of the Sky
by BrazenVulpine
Summary: In a word: Practice. In a phrase: A novelization of Explorers of Sky! I'll be keeping to the plot, but...expect pepper. Lots of it. Rated T because I'm paranoid. Seriously.
1. Chapter 1

__EDIT: If you hate sloppy writing, skip ahead to Chapter 2 and a half.

__-0-

_Sand. Waves. The smell of the sea._

…

…_A…Beach?_

…

…

…_...Can't…move…_

With that, I lapsed back into unconsciousness, the saltwater licking my feet.

-0-

This time, I awoke to someone shaking me.

"Hey!"

_An enemy, perhaps?_

With that thought ringing in my head, I stiffened, rolled to my right and jumped to my feet.

"Are you ok- oh, thank goodness!"

I, ready to fight or flee, gave the speaker a quick one-over.

It was a Vulpix, female, by its voice, not yet big enough to be an adult, with large, caramel eyes.

It was looking at me with concern.

"You weren't moving at all! Are you alright?" Asked the Vulpix, pressing a paw to her chest.

Ignoring her for a moment (having ascertained that she meant no harm), I examined my surroundings.

_Mmm, large, red sandstone bluffs surrounding a beach, with the only exits being a dirt and sand road, a mossy cave behind me, and…_

I looked at the rolling breakers and shivered.

_The sea._

"Well, you're a little cold, by that shiver. Why don't we drop you by Kangas's and get you some hot _Taf_?"

"No, no, that won't be necessary," I coughed. _Ugh, my joints. _"Instead, would you mind telling where I can find the nearest human? I think I'd be safe amongst my own own people."

"Uh, what? Human? But you look like a perfectly normal Riolu to me!" the Vulpix chuckled, nervous.

_Wait, Wha-_

I looked at my legs and torso.

_-AAAAAAAT?!_

"You're…a little strange…are you playing a trick on me?" murmured the Vulpix, now staring.

"No! How could I play tricks when I don't remember a thing!" I screeched at the nameless Vulpix, giving her a start (I felt a little bad, taking out my frustrations on her like that).

"…You're not? N'yeah, doesn't feel like it." muttered the vixen. "Anyway, what's your name? Can you remember that, at least, so I don't have to call you 'the nameless Riolu?'"

_My name? That's right, my name is…uh, Caleb! That's right, Caleb! But how do I know that?_

"Your name's Caleb, huh?" asked the Vulpix. "Mine's Carmine. Nice to meet you!"

_Wha- Gah! I spoke aloud?_

"You don't seem to be a bad pokemon, at least," Carmine went on. "Sorry that I doubted you."

_You're forgiven, seeing as I thought you were going to loot my body, or something._

I looked past Carmine's shoulder, and watched two pokemon, -a Zubat and a Koffing- advance, -flying and floating respectively- toward us.

_Bad pokemon, eh? They must have a bit of a problem, otherwise-_

"Yowch!"

_Huh?-_

I frowned at Carmines stunned body, _-Dang, that hurt!- _and rubbed my muzzle, the spot where her skull had collided with my face.

Then, I looked up at her attackers, who were hovering over a little bit of carved rock, sneering at us.

"Well, I do beg your pardon," Koffing chuckled.

Carmine got up, whipping up sand as she turned around.

"Hey, what was that for?!" shouted Carmine, red in the face.

_I can practically see the smoke coming out of her ears…_

"Heh-heh-heh!" Zubat cackled. "Can't figure it out? We wanted to mess with ya!"

"What? Why?" asked Carmine, now taken aback.

"Well," Zubat murmured, turning his gaze on the piece of carved rock. "That's yours, isn't it?"

Carmine made a choking noise. "That's…!"

"Sorry, kiddo, we'll take that!" the Zubat cackled, swiftly grabbing it and stuffing it into a sack.

"Aaaah!" Carmine wailed.

_Oh, I see, this is a robbery!_

"Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing taunted. "Not gonna make a move to get it back? I didn't expect you to be such a big coward!"

Then Koffing turned to Zubat. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Aye. See you around, coward!" called Zubat as he and Koffing made began escape through the lichen-encrusted cave behind me.

After they were out of sight, Carmine gave a sudden moan of despair. "…Ohhh…" Then she turned to me.

"Wh-what should I do? That stone was my treasure; it means everything to me."

Tears started gathering in her eyes. "If lose that…" Then she shook her head violently, her tears fading, her countenance changing. "No! There's no time to waste! I must get it back!"

Then she gave me a pleading look. "Caleb, will you help me?"

_Her determined expression sure is cute, _I noted offhandedly. _Well, why not?_

"Certainly."

"Thanks, Caleb! Let's get going!" shouted an emboldened Carmine, already halfway to the caves mouth.

I started running after her, much to the displeasure of my already groaning joints.

"Hey, wait up!"

We plunged into bluish twilight.

-Beach Cave- B1F

The first "room" (the walls were compromised of stalagmites and lichen, and were thus easy to see through) was slightly cramped, about five paces by seven. The redstone walls were almost hidden by lichens that thrive above the tideline. The little light that made it in from outside bounced off water pools inside, causing lighted watery patterns to form on the ceiling.

Amongst the flurry of stalagmites, I noticed a dozen or so Shellos, Anorith and Lileep, sleeping, swimming, and generally enjoying life.

However, upon my entry and Carmines ill-informed charge, the ones nearest to us zeroed in on us, eyes slitted, slowly advancing.

My lips curved upwards into a feral grin.

_This is going to be fun._

Carmine, unaware of the danger she was in, continued her headlong rush, head whipping back and forth.

_Is she looking for Koffing?_ I wondered. _Well, I hope she realizes there's an Anor-_

"Arrgh!" Carmine cried out in shock as she was hit by a Bubble attack that dealt considerable damage

…_too late_.

Well there was nothing for it but to copy Carmines "charge,"and hit the Anorith from the side.

(…Mind, I use "hit" as a loose term, seeing as, really, I used a Quick Attack to get in range, then I used Bite repeatedly. Ouch.)

"Mmm…" I looked at the Anorith, then at Carmine's fainted form. "…what, was I too violent?"

After throwing the body of the Anorith into a random pool, I examined Carmine, wondering what to do.

Turns out, I needn't have worried. Carmine opened her eyes, right when…

"What are you doing?"

…I was about to tip her into one of the saltwater pools.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." I said, trying to put on an innocent expression. "I was just…ah…"

"Trying to do what, exactly?" asked Carmine, rising to her feet.

I looked vainly for something to distract her with. "I was just…ah, um…ah!"

"Yes?" Carmine inquired pleasantly.

"Ah! L-look! Stairs!" I squealed (yes, I did, much as I hate to admit it), pointing through the vegetation at some plain grey stone steps, leading into a slightly darker twilight.

I fervently hoped that it might distract her long enough for me to escape.

Expressionless, she glanced though the columns, then at me.

"Alright, I guess I don't _need _to know." she muttered, almost inaudibly. She raised her voice. "From what I've heard, stairs lead to the next floor. I haven't seen Koffing anywhere around here, so we should continue to the next level."

I nodded. "Aye."

She nodded back, and then trotted through the leftmost "corridor" and descended the staircase.

I, of course, followed.

-Beach Cave-B2F

This floor was generally the same as the last one, the only difference being that it was slightly darker.

"Wait…" Carmine said, staring at something.

_What is it? _I thought. Slightly irritable, I followed her line of sight. _We need to get a move o-_

…

"…I guess the stairs aren't always in a different room." Carmine suddenly realized.

I nodded slowly, feeling rather stupid. _Right…_

-Beach Cave-B3F

This time, upon our arrival, a group of about four pokemon saw us.

"Uh-oh," Carmine whispered to me. "They see us, c'mon, we ou-"

Unfortunately for Carmine, I wasn't listening.

Once again, that feral smile found its way onto my face.

_This…is going to be great._

Barely thinking, I rushed towards the closest foe, a Chingling.

"Caleb! What are you-!" Carmine's shout registered somewhere in the back of my head, but I was beyond caring.

I Bit into one of the Chingling's scarf-like appendages, and _heaved _it across the room. Before it even hit the wall, I grabbed the Anorith and hit it wildly with a blue fist until it went limp.

When I looked up from my "work," I saw one of the remaining Shelloses flying towards my head. Taking hold of the closest thing to paw, I used the half-delirious Anorith as a sort of wet, bony stick to flatten the airborne Shellos against the floor.

I let go of the Anorith and straightened.

_Hmmm, it seems that this brief skirmish has carried me down the corridor a ways…_

I reflexively checked my surroundings, examining each point of interest in turn.

The Anorith was now seemingly half-dead, half-in half-out of one of the pools, with a Shellos poking out from under it.

The other Shellos was feigning unconsciousness, not realizing that its shivering gave it away.

_Meh…it's not like I don't know what mercy means, but at the moment, I don't feel like taking a chance._

With that thought in mind, I slowly advanced toward the petrified Shellos. Halfway to the second "room," I stopped, the pink slug fleeing from my thoughts.

_Stairs!_

Indeed, they were situated right smack-dab in the middle of the next room.

_Great, now, where's Carmine?_

I turned back to the first room, and froze. There was Carmine, lying with her back against the incapacitated Chingling, fainted dead away.

…

_Is this going to happen every time?!_

-Beach Cave-B4F

"Caleb…" Carmine began, tentatively.

"Yes?" I asked absently, my attention on a seed I just picked up.

"Do you always fight so…viscously?" Carmine asked, her tails waving back and forth anxiously.

I turned to face her. "I suppose so. Hey, Carmine, do you know what this seed is?"

"Uh? I think it's a _Blast Seed." _Carmine said, staring at me thoughtfully.

"A _Blast Seed, _eh? What does it do, exactly?"

"…" She stared into the distance, vacant as a Slowpoke.

"Hey, Carmine." I frowned. "Hey!"

"What?" She flicked some water off her paws, as she came out of her thoughts.

"What does it do?" Impatient, I waved the seed in front of her face.

"Oh, that? Upon impact, the _Blast Seed _will explode violently, if you try to eat it, huge flames will burst from your mouth. It isn't used amongst higher level exploration teams, however, because it only does thirty-five or so damage." she explained, frowning through the stalagmites.

_Exploration Teams? They actually have measurements for damage?..._

I grinned at the seed, not noticing Carmine shudder.

_This could come in handy._

-Beach Cave Pit-

We leapt down the stairs, turned right, passed through the last vestiges of blued twilight, and rushed into a well-lit cavern.

Koffing and Zubat were berating each other in front of an enormous opening, which looked out across the waves of the sea.

_Wait, what? By my reckoning, we should be at least ten meters underwater!_

"You lummox! Fancy trying to use a _Mystery Dungeon _as an escape route! How, in the name of Darkrown, are we going to get out of here!?" Zubat screeched angrily.

"We can't leave," Koffing moaned. "Those two have probably sent for Officer Magnezone by now! We're bottled up like Krabbies in a sand-trap!"

Personally, I would have thought it amusing to watch them squirm a little longer, but Carmine wasted no time.

"Uh…hey!" She shouted, her voice reverberating throughout the carvern.

Both Koffing and Zubat turned around.

…

Koffing was the first to smile. "It seems they didn't send for Magnezone after all," He muttered to Zubat. "How foolish."

Carmine made a choking noise. "Urk! Give-…give me back what you stole from me! That's my personal treasure! It means the world to me!" Her voice slowly gained confidence.

_Carmine, Carmine, Carmine. Criminals being criminals, the instant you said "treasure" is almost certainly the instant they decided to refute your nicely worded statement._

"Treasure, you say?" Zubat smirked. "So that thing is really valuable, huh?"

"It could be worth more than we hoped for, I'd say." said Koffing with a wide, unpleasant grin. "We should try selling it. Who knows what kind of price it'll fetch?"

"What? No! You can't!" Carmine shouted, almost swallowing her tongue.

_See what I mean?_

"If you want it that badly…" Zubat smiled, watching Carmines ears perk up. "Come and get it!"

With that, he rushed us.

-Boss Battle-Zubat and Koffing

_That is what I was waiting for._

"Carmine!" I yelled. "Distract Koffing!"

"Eh? Ah, sure!" Carmine said, somewhat surprised. She launched an Ember at Koffing.

"Whoa-ho-OW!"

I watched Carmine's antics out of the corner of my eyes, but my real attention was on Zubat. The blue, eyeless bat sped across the cave, shouting obscenities at me.

Instead of answering (or listening, really), I ripped something out of the fur behind my right ear, held it up to my mouth, and, when Zubat was about 2 paces away, swallowed it.

The reaction was instantaneous and violent; it felt like scorpions were biting the inside of my mouth. Without thinking, I opened my mouth to let the "scorpions" escape.

_**CRUMPT!**_

Huge, billowing flames shot from my muzzle, lighting up the cave bright as day. Zubat, caught up in the ridiculously huge blast, was thrown across the cave, and into the seawater.

_Sizzle. _

_Ouch, that has got to hurt._

"…"

I smiled and clapped my paws, drawing every eye.

"Next."

-0-

I and Carmine stood over the beaten and charred forms of Zubat and Koffing, the once-proud duo trying to cling to any scrap of dignity they had left.

"D-dang it!" Zubat squeaked, trying to look intimidating. "Here! You can have your worthless lump of rock!"

He threw the carved stone at Carmines feet.

"Ho-hack! Hack! D-don't look so awesome! Your victory was a fluke! Hack!" coughed Koffing, as he floated "to his feet" (See what I did there?).

_Fluke? Nah, it was more a result of good planning, although they were much weaker than expected._

"Aye! Just you remember that!" shouted Zubat, turning to flee.

Immediately after they were out of sight, Carmine peered at the piece of stone they'd thrown at her.

"…"

_Well?_

"Ah! Yes, this is my _Relic Fragment_!" Carmine suddenly grinned, picking it up and stowing it. "I can't believe I actually managed to get it back!"

_Well, I helped a little, didn't I?_

As if reading my thoughts, she turned to me with tears in her eyes. "This only happened because you helped me, Caleb."

_Well, true as that may be, you performed admirably under the circumstances._

"Thank you, Caleb!" Her unformed tears vanished, and she treated me to a _very_ grateful look.

I smiled right back.

"Anytime, Carmine, anytime."

-Pearl Beach-

"Again, thank you so very much." Carmine smiled, but somehow, to me, she seemed…anxious.

"Like I said, you're quite welcome." _Why should she be anxious? With the amount of "thank you's" I've heard in the last thirteen minutes, she should be…_

_Wait, _I thought, suddenly suspicious. _Don't tell me she's buttering me up for something?_

"Anyway," Carmine said, not noticing my careful look. "I guess I should you what we've been chasing after this whole time…"

She placed this "Relic Fragment" on the sand.

"…this is what they stole," she began grandly. "I call it a _Relic Fragment._"

I glanced down at it once, looked up, than jerked my head back down so fast I felt my neck crack.

I gaped. _What a bloody pattern! It's so intricate I thought they were just oddly symmetrical cracks!_

Carmine grinned, seeing the look on my face. "That's right, isn't it amazing?" She joined me, staring at the Relic Fragment, then turned her gaze towards the sea.

"You see, I've always loved legends and lore," she reminisced, staring out over the waves. "I would always get so excited when the Elder came to town, and I can remember each story he told quite clearly."

"The mountains of treasure in Gawer range," she murmured, a light entering her eyes. "The broken lines of the Kawesha map," her voice got louder. "The never-ending, uncharted ruins of Zenan!"

"Such places must be full of ancient items, of gold and adventure!" she shouted. "To make historic discoveries! To chart Zero Isle itself! Such a life is the life for me!"

Caleb, surprised by the passion in her voice, snapped his head up at the mention of gold.

_Gold? I remember gold. It was like…a sunset, frozen like ice._

Abruptly, Carmine turned from the sea. "Don't you feel the same?" She looked at me, but her eyes were elsewhere.

_Adventure? History? Ruins? Yes, I understand you. Is this what you're going to try to talk me into?_

"I feel this fragment might be the key to such place," Her eyes practically glowed. "This is what made me make the decision to join an Exploration Team!"

_Oh, so does an Exploration Team do all that sort of stuff? _I wondered._ I don't think I would mind joining one of those. After all, maybe all the exploring and travelling to different places would help my amnesia, since nothing looks familiar around here. _

"So I headed to Wigglytuff's Guild to become apprentice," She went on. "But, ah…" The glow slowly faded from her eyes, and traveled to her cheeks. "I chickened out…" She muttered, abashed.

Somehow, I could almost _see_ her anxiousness, like a grey mist, building to a fever pitch.

_Here it comes…_

"So, uh, Caleb." Carmine said in a too-normal tone. "What are you going to do now? You've lost your memory, and you've, er, somehow turned into a pokemon…" She stared at him, skeptical. "Do you have any place to stay?"

"If I do, I don't remember." I replied, waiting for the inevitable request.

"Thought so." She murmured quietly. "Good, in that case…" Her voice returned to its normal volume. "Caleb, can I ask you a big favor?"

I nodded. _Go ahead._

"Will you form an Exploration Team with me? You can be the leader if you want; I'm not much for tactics."

I was astonished. _Me? The leader of an Exploration Team? Wha-?_

I calmed myself. _Well… _I let my gaze travel across the sandstone bluffs. _Why not? I already said I wouldn't mind joining an Exploration Team, why not form my own?_

"Very well, Carmine, if you wish." I voiced my concurrence.

"Really?!" Her eyes lit up once more. "Really and truly?!" At my nod, she literally _squealed _in happiness, and, after she calmed down a little, she said, "Thank you so much, Caleb! You don't know how much this means to me!"

While she jumped about, I swiftly checked the sun.

"Er, Carmine…"

"Yes, Caleb?" She turned to me, still wearing that huge grin.

"Seeing as the sun is setting, we should…ah, do what? What are our choices here?" I asked. _I'm bone tired._

"Well…" Carmine mused. "We could sleep at my place, but I think we should go apprentice before our momentum slows."

"What, now?" I asked for confirmation. When she nodded eagerly, I asked; "How far away is it?"

"Oh, a minute or two that way." she said offhandedly, gesturing at the much-traveled dirt road behind me. "You'll see it when we get the crossroads."

"Ah…" I sighed, and wondered what I had gotten myself into.

Carmine chuckled. "Well it's no use waiting out here, c'mon!" She said, already running towards the road.

I chased after her, wondering if all our adventures were going to begin like this.

-0-

I'll rewrite this one of these days.

You see, I wrote this with almost NO earlier attempts at writing, so it sucks.

Shame.

Signed, BrazenVulpine~


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Entry Test

Wigglytuff's guild, was, in a phrase, a tent in the shape of the aforementioned pokemon (only the top half, though). It was situated on the edge of a cliff, and was flanked by a pair of torches (braziers, really), two Aboriginal-style totem poles, and a couple of banners alike emblazoned with likenesses of Wigglytuff's face.

Beside me, Carmine was mumbling to herself, clearly trying to overcome her first impulse, being to run.

"…odd…is!...brave….got Caleb with me….time…"

_I had best give her a kick, otherwise we'll be out here all night._

I turned to Carmine. "Carmine, I think we've waited quite long enough."

She gave a little jump. "Ah, you sure? I mean, maybe it would be best to-"

"Carmine. Now." I said firmly.

She made a very unladylike noise in the back of her throat. "Guh…" and started, reluctantly, to approach the guild.

Halfway there, Carmine stopped at something that looked like a grate, covering a hole, ringed with smoothed stones.

Gingerly, she climbed atop it, individually placing her paws on the wooden mesh (thus securing herself, so she wouldn't fall through the spaces 'twixt the wood). Suddenly, a voice, slightly high-pitched, rang out.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" I flinched.

Then a different voice, deeper-pitched.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Carmine shuddered.

In reply, the original voice called. "The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!"

Carmine, clearly on the point of bolting, had her eyes tightly shut with the effort of staying in place.

_By her reaction, you'd think the guild had burned her parents alive!_

After a brief period of time, I checked the sun. _Flippin' heck! It's near sunset!_

"…You may ENTER!" said the deeper voice, rather abruptly. "Someone's with you! So get that stranger to stand up THERE!"

_Light, what an obnoxious voice!_

Carmine jumped off the grate, landing on the left side of the…sentry system, maybe?

She turned to me. "I guess they mean you, Caleb."

_Oh? Ah. _

I moved with arms-length distance of the grate. _Funny, the use of a hole in the ground to identify footprints. The overall conception of such an undertaking is almost genius, but…_

"Hey, stranger!" cried the obnoxious voice, impatient. "Get on the GRATE!"

I clambered on top of the mesh.

…_for the most part, the performance relies sheerly upon the prowess of the sentry._

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose Footprint?"

"The footprint is…the footprint is…uh…" the voice sounded uncertain.

"What's wrong? Sentry! Sentry!?"

…_It seems my hypothesis is correct._

"What's wrong, sentry Diglett?" sounded the loud voice, curious.

"Umm…er…" Diglett muttered something under his breath. "It's…the footprint is…" he muttered a bit more.

"Maybe Riolu's! Maybe Riolu's!" Diglett finally shouted, uncertain.

"_WHAT!? _Maybe?!" the miscellaneous voice screeched.

_Ouch. _I grabbed at my ears. _WHAT a voice!_

"UGH! That's pretty crummy, Diglett!" the voice went on. "We EMPLOY you for your abilities, yet you can't identify one MEASLY pokemon?!"

"W-well, sorry! But it's not like I've ever _seen _a Riolu before!"

… _(I'll not describe the obscenities the two hurled at each other)_

"Huh." Carmine stared, wide eyed, at the grate. "Are they…arguing? Or just…insulting each other?"

I glanced at her worriedly. _I hope she doesn't try to implement any of this filth into her vocabulary._

Finally, the "argument" winded down to a close, and the cliff top was silent for a time.

"…sorry to make you WAIT."

The speaker, standing behind the portcullis of the tent, stared at us. He was a tall, thick specimen, with a large, gaping yellow mouth, strange, circular ears, and was coloured a pale shade of purple (with several yellow stripes down his back, but we couldn't see that)

"Right, visiting hours are from 8 o' clock to 8:30, no touching anything, ABSTAIN from disgusting displays of public affection, and, whatever you do, do NOT anger the Guildmaster. Now, come with me."

With that, he turned and entered the darkness of the tent, clearly expecting us to follow.

We did, of course.

-Wigglytuff's Guild-Entry Tent

"Wow!" cried Carmine, having completely recovered from her ordeal. "A ladder! And I was wondering how the whole guild fit into such a small tent!"

_Aye, that's true, but… _I turned and fixated the portcullis with a glare. _…what use could they have for a portcullis? _I wondered. _Anyone with half a brain would just rip a hole in the tent!_

I turned back just in time to see the last of Carmine's tails vanishing down the bamboo-esque ladder.

I sighed.

-Wigglytuff's Guild-B1F

Halfway down the ladder, I turned a little and examined the cavern-like room I found myself in.

It was large, about 22 paces by 35, with a 20 pace difference 'twixt floor and roof, with vines holding up the earthy ceiling.

Making my way all the way down the ladder-like construct, I made some more observations, trying to get a good grasp of the area.

Directly to my right was a sort of message board (bordered around the edges with red bricks), with clear space in front of it for about 15 paces, then an vacant vendor-like thing, backed by an empty board.

To my immediate left was another message board (this time bordered with yellowy-tan bricks, crested at the top), with a window past that.

Again, there was a clear space of about 15 paces in front of the message board, and then there was a large, wooden Q&A thing (the whole place was about a third full of explorers, chatting, discussing jobs, and generally enjoying life). *

Loudred was standing next to the red bordered message board, beside a blue feathered parrot, who had an odd black head.

I ceased my observations just in time to catch the tail end of what Loudred was saying.

"…and so, I'll turn you over to Chatot. So, uh, goodbye." Loudred concluded, turned to another ladder directly beside the first one, and descended to the second floor.

As soon as Loudred left, Carmine turned to Chatot, rapt attention on her face.

"And that's how it is!" Chatot said, spreading his wings. "What are you two here for, anyways? Scouting for the Federation?" mused Chatot, lightly flapping his wings a few times. "No, I suppose you're a bit young for that. Surveys, perhaps? If so, do leave. We have no time for such things, exploring and all."

"No, no." Carmine assured, then started to explain. "We would like to form an exploration team, so we came here to get the proper training!"

Chatot stopped flapping, and fixated her with a beady eye. "Is that right…?" he mumbled.

"Well," he said, his voice picking up. "I suppose the Bouncer will enjoy this. After all, we haven't got very many applicants since he thrashed that pair of Shinx!" Chatot laughed.

"The Bouncer?" murmured Carmine, uneasy. "Who's that?"

_My thoughts exactly, Carmine._

"Why," Chatot grinned. "He's our 'filter!' In other words, our way of keeping out pokemon too weak to form an exploration team." he laughed again. "To enroll here, you have to beat him!"

-Wigglytuff's Guild-B2F

The second floor was much the same as the first, with a stone shop on the right, and a large door on the left, instead of message boards. Three corridors ran out of the room, and there was a hole in floor at the far right edge of the carvern-like area.

The middle space was clear of obstructions.

_I wonder what type this "Bouncer" is? It would be handy if it was a Grass type or a Ps-_

Something hit my back, causing me to stumble forward.

"Sorry, little buddy!"

_Huh? _I turned around.

What I saw was a huge, monkey-like creature, white in colour, with long, claw-tipped arms and a spot of red fur on its forehead.

_He's probably a Normal type, judging by the colour of that fur._

"Hey!" said the monkey, with a grin. "Do you two know where Chatot is? I'm supposed to, like, beat up a few kids for him?"

_Us, you mean?_

"We," said Carmine, glowering at the ape. "Are the two 'kids' th-"

Chatot jumped into the conversation, cutting off Carmine. "Yes, yes, come over here, sir Vigoroth!"

Vigoroth lumbered over. "Hey, Chatot, what do you need me for?"

"Well, sir," replied Chatot, leading Vigoroth to the left-middle of the floor. "We would like you to test these two's-" he gestured at us. "-abilities."

"Oh?" Vigoroth looked us up and down. "Well…fine. But don't expect too much, alright?"

…_Carmine, gritting your teeth like that can't be healthy._

-Test-VS Vigoroth

I hit the ground, entering the most intimate of embraces with the earth for just a moment, before my momentum sped me onward, towards the south wall of the cavern.

I hit the south wall, and all the breath was driven from my lungs upon impact, leaving only pain, pain, _pain._

And bruises, of course.

I looked up, dizzy, two of everything seeming to spin and converge. It took a long moment for the room to stop careening wildly, and when my eyes cleared, I took stock of my surroundings.

Vigoroth was grinning, unsurprisingly, with a claw still outstretched, the very same claw that had sent me on my short journey to some rocks and a hard place. _Ahh! My back! My head!_ I winced, and would have wailed, had I been that sort of person.

Chatot was standing well behind and to the right of the damn monkey-thing, wings 'clasped' to his sides, cutting a very prim figure, he looked like he would rather be doing something else, something else than watching two would-be recruits getting thrashed within an _inch of their life._

Carmine, my partner, was lying forward and to the left of Vigoroth, in a half-conscious state, her tails limp. She was still breathing, and her caramel-brown eyes were half open, centered on me. Her injuries were moderate, in comparison to what they could have been, but the vixen had taken a gash along her left foreleg, and had a fast-mottling bruise between her eyes, likely the reason she was semi-conscious.

Vigoroth laughed suddenly, letting his arm fall. I trained my eyes on him, forgetting Carmine for the moment.

"You guys wanna give up? Well, I don't blame you, I don't think even Chatot could beat me one-on-one." he said, cocky as a piece of wood paneling, and relaxed as a lounging Ninjask. "If you give up, you can practice, collect yourselves-" his eyes gleamed. "-sharpen your skills a little, then come back."

I frowned (well, I was grimacing before, so no one saw much difference). _Chatot couldn't beat him one-on-one? If that's the case, how do they expect two rookies to defeat such a monster? Through teamwork? _My eyes traveled back to Carmine. _…We're screwed on that front. Perhaps…an item?_

I slowly turned my head to the right, so as not to cause undue discomfort. I let my eyes fall on a pine rack, burdened with twelve (arranged in three rows of four), strange, light-ish blue orbs, each about twice as wide as the exposed lengths of bone (located on the backs of my paws) were, at their longest point(s).

_Mmm, perhaps those may be of use? _I thought, perplexed. _Well, if they have any effects at all, they must be something arcane._

I carefully unpeeled myself from the rocky wall, but the resulting pain still nearly drove me to my knees. I hobbled, slowly, towards the rack, which was set flush against the wall. Vigoroth watched me, a slight smile on his face, clearly believing me incapable. _Damn you, ignoramus! _I thought , furious for some reason. _I'll wipe that smirk off your face, even if I have to craaawl! _ Unfounded rage is against my principles, but something about that _monkey's _curving lips drove me absolutely _bananas_.*

I reached the rack of orbs. I turned, to face it fully, and started cataloging the orbs. _Well, one looks much the same as the next, but surely they have __**some **__form of filing system. Perhaps the most dangerous ones are on the top? Or maybe on the bottom? Or in the middle, as unlikely as that seems?_

"Hey," It was Vigoroth, whom I could hear shifting behind me. "Hey Chatot, aren't those Orbs?"

Chatot must have nodded, because Vigoroth almost screeched.

"Gaaaarh!"

In panic. _Hah-hah-hah._

However, this was no time for laughs; I could hear him loping his way towards me, quickly, by the sounds of things. Glancing through the spheres quickly, I made my decision and snatched an orb from the middle shelf. _Either way, it's probable that the orbs of middling potency/power are stored on the middle shelf, making this the safest decision. _I whipped around, holding the orb straight out, at about chest height.

_Now, all that matters is that middling strength is strong enough for my purposes. _I concluded, as I stared up into the face of that bloody _monkey,_ as he reared back, probably for a physical move, about a metre away. I watched…and time seemed to slow.

_Everything turned gray, gray tinged azure. Things became washed-out in colour, oddly incomplete without a full spectrum to interact with. Vigoroth's arm, pulled back for some sort of attack, slowed to a crawl, and the rest of his body seemed frozen in place._

_This is a Decoy Orb._

_Activate?_

_Y/N_

"_Yes, do." I spoke, but I heard no sound._ Strange, this is. _I thought. _These orbs…are disconcerting. Very much so.

_The orb lit up with an inner, white light. The sphere of white energy seemed to pulse, once, twice, in time with something just out of sight, out of everyone's sight._

_Then, with a flash, it-_

-all vanished. Time sped up to match its regular, consistent beat. Colour came flooding back, with contrast to the dull world it displaced. The orb, its energy now spent, turned black and opaque, and almost seemed to sigh, to mourn for its brief moment of glory, of its second of rapture, now forever unobtainable.

My head snapped up, expecting to see Vigoroth completing his attack, expecting to see a pair of claws, raking at my face.

Instead, what I saw was...unexplainable. Where that _monkey _had stood, a timeless eternity before, was a Heracross. One Heracross, standing _precisely _where Vigoroth had stood before, in the same position (though it had let its arms drop to its sides), but with not with the same momentum, as it didn't go flying into or over my face. It was shuddering, and was checking its arms, legs, wings with frantic energy, froth flying from its mouth.

_What- what happened? _I thought, stunned. _Did I actually turn a Vigoroth into a Heracross? _A gurgling, half-strangled laugh burst from my throat. The Heracross stopped checking its cobalt shell, and glared at me. My laughter slowed, and stopped. _Well, perhaps the orb created some sort of displacement-style teleportation, switching Vigoroth with a random pokemon somewhere. _I eyed the oversized beetle, a little uneasy, as its glares gradually becamebaleful. _Of course, for that to work, they'd both need to have relativley the same mass, with the surrounding air to compensate for irregularities. Or perhaps, as the name 'Decoy Orb' suggests, Vigoroth merely became-_

Suddenly, the cobalt-shelled insectoid roared, an oddly reedy sound, and lunged the metres difference between us, horn lowered, arms outstretched, to grab me in case I dodged.

However, wrapped up in my thoughts as I was, I only had a jiffy* to widen my eyes, before the Heracross' horn hit me in my midsection, driving me into the rack, splintering the wood, and scattering the blue spheres all over. We hit the wall behind, and I felt several of my bones _pop._ The dust settled, silence.

I coughed, and looked down, past the blood dribbling down my chin, at the entangled mess of me, the Heracross and the remnants of the 'orb rack.' _Amazing, _I thought, distantly. _That one's ribcage can look and feel so…mangled._

I was barely aware of my surroundings, possibly due to blood loss. However, just before I went under, I saw Chatot, flying in an urgent, frenzied manner, toward the mass of rent flesh, and bone, that I'd become.

I watched, as he approached the Heracross' backside…_Oh? He's stabbing at the insect with his beak? How comical. How…ludicrous._ I started hacking, in some semblance of laughter. _How ludicrous indeed. _

…_Wait, what is he saying?_

"You-" Peck. "-worthless-" Peck. "-slab of feral-" Uproar. "-meat," Wing Attack. He breathed in deeply, and shouted. "How dare you enter these grounds, and attack our trainees?" Then, he took hold of one of the Heracross' legs (with his beak), and bodily _threw _the insectoid all the way across the cavern, right to the base of the ladder.

_Wait, what? Doesn't he realize that's Vigoroth he's hitting? _I thought, amused. _I guess that orb has some effect besides the transformation, which makes anyone, even teammates, hostile towards him. Maybe the hostility is gener-_

For me, the world faded away for an instant, and when I could see and hear again, to any degree, the scene I saw was…nonsensical, to be generous.

The insanity was all at the base of the ladder, it was…at the center was the Heracross, wriggling like a dying insect.

_How fitting. _I thought, indifferent to his suffering.

The cobalt beetle was being gang-beaten by over thirteen pokemon! I espied a Chimecho, hurling Psychic energies, a Sunflora, sinking roots into the hapless bug, and a Corphish, clamping down hard on the Heracross' smooth face, amongst many more, with several even _dropping down _from the first floor, landing amidst the one-sided melee, providing unneeded assistance!

_Mmm, _I thought, inwardly filing away what information I could gather from the chaos. _It seems the...Decoy Orb's effects are greater than… _I could feel myself slipping away, but I tried to fight back, to stay conscious. _…anticipated, make note that it is certainly a ridiculously…_

… _potent item, certain to be effective…_

… _when used in…_

… _an environment…_

… _full…_

… _of…_

… _enemies._

…_Therefore…_

…_it would…_

…_be worthwhile…_

…_to add…_

…_one…_

…_to the…_

…_in…_

…_ven…_

…_tory._

Everything went black, but the blackness was hot with pain.

*I'm getting a bad premonition…

*Yes, a Jiffy is an actual measurement of time.

*I give credit to ScytheRider for the Orb sequence.

_Shadow Claw; like dagger's sigh. Shadow Claw; like hammer's blow. Shadow Claw; you wish to die? Shadow Claw; will make it so!_

-poem in _Crossroads of Twilight _by Robert Jordan, adapted for my purposes.

(Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. ;P)

Done the first part of Chapter Two! Grand, 'tis grand, I can already see a marked difference in quality between this and the last chapter.

Anyway, let's get to the point.

Originally, I called this story 'Views of the Sky' because I was just going to write 'views' (i.e. certain chapters) of PMD2 Sky, with no thought for order.

I might still go with the plan above, but maybe not. I'm just giving you fellows a heads-up, so you won't be surprised when I post, say, Chapter 9, for no reason besides Lady Whimsy.

Ta-ta!

Signed, BrazenVulpine.


	3. Chapter 2 and a Half

Chapter 2 – Part 2

-Carmine's Thoughts-

-0-

'The name's Carmine. Pleased to meet you.'

…Is what my mother would expect me to say.

Ya, my name's Carmine, what of it? It's not like you'll tell me yours, this is only paper, after all. Now shoo, I have…things to do.

…

Get lost already.

… … …

…Alright, I admit it. I actually _have _nothing to do, there's nothing to look at that I haven't gone over a billion times, there's no one I know well enough to talk to, and that Croagunk over there is continually looking over his shoulder and flashing me a creepy grin. Freakin' pedophile.

…

This isn't how I imagined things, y'know, though I'm not sure what I expected. When I left my small, untidy village (does a gathering of 4 familys even constitute a settlement?), with starry eyes and little to no idea how dangerous the world can be, I thought making my way in the world would be easy, easy and full of glorious adventure. I was, I admit, full of tales that had no bearing on the real world.

Let's back up a bit.

I'm not sure _who _my real parents are, but my egg was found floating down the river, and my soon-to-be uncle managed to fish it out. Not really sure what to do with me, he brought the egg home, much to the surprise (and annoyance) of his friend Flareon, Elly. At first, she wanted to crack open the egg and have it scrambled, for breakfast. But, after leaving me by the doorway for the night, she realized she could feel a slight heat from the shell (Flareons, being fire types, are sensitive to heat), and, suspecting that I was alive, warmed the shell by lying against it for several weeks, until one day, I hatched. Woopty doo.

Elly, and Chagrin, the Graveler, eventually became my mother and uncle (reluctantly, in my mother's case, and Chagrin is technically my adopted father, but an uncle suits him better). I was always a timid child, Torkoal, the ancient story-teller, said that it might have had something to do with how the river had carried my egg downstream. That might be possible, because although I'm scared of everything, water remains my greatest fear.

To cover up my scaredy-cat ways, I adopted a bully-ish façade, talking down to the other kids in the village, baring my teeth at anyone who laughed at how easily startled I was, and pretty much throwing my weight around. Well, as much as I could get away with.

Eventually, I went too far and used an Ember on that stupid Wurmple. He deserved it, you know, he led a band of his 'forest friends' and tied me up. Said he was gonna just 'see how tough you are hangin' upside down!' I tell ya, I was so scared, I was shaking. It wasn't easy to hold up that façade in the first place, but in that 'situation,' it just _dissolved _like a barleycorn in a strainer.

However, after they had their fun calling me names and talkin' down to me, they start poking me with sticks. And, while they're do'in that, that damn Wurmple waltzes right up to my face, and he…he…uh…

…

Geez, I can't remember. Well, anyhow, to cut a long story short, I nailed him in the face, and then he goes home and tells his papa an' mama some phony story about how I ambushed him and his friends and almost killed him. His parents were all 'Holy branches! We gotts to punish that evil cre-a-ture!' and called a town meeting about my 'destructive conduct,' or something.

My mother, the Flareon, was pretty darn pissed at what I'd 'supposedly' done, and forbade me from going outside the house, said that she was going to 'put a stop to this unreasonably masculine and unseemingly behaviour!'

At the time, I had no idea what was coming. Speaking lessons! She weeded the slang out of my speech, but not out of my thoughts, praise the creator. Walking lessons! No more slouching, not for me, ever since she forced those lessons on me. 'Walk to the wall! No, keep the shoulders straight! Stop dragging your tails!...Okay, now walk back- stop slouching!' Sleeping lessons. Now these were my favourite. Every time she woke up and heard me snoring, she'd come over and hit me. Yeah, she actually did.

Gradually, I dropped the bully act and became something resembling a princess. A tame, mild as milk, _slightly dim-witted barking princess! AAAAGH!_ Inside, I _seethed _with anger. My crazy mother had stripped away every wall, every bluff that I had between my timid, run-from-water self, and my masks, my beautiful, cool-faced facades.

…

Well, maybe I _am _grateful to my mother, if not for her, I'd probably be still running from reality, and from my true self. Instead of changing myself, I ran from myself, truly. However, thanks to my lessons, I now know who I am. And, being true to myself, I no longer 'deceive' myself. Really, mother, thanks. Thanks for stopping me from becoming an average, run-of-the-mill cowardly criminal.

Back to the story. At that time, after _finally _being let out of the house by Elly, who was satisfied by my transformation, I held none of the 'sentiments' I hold now. I thought she had made me something lesser, something that wouldn't be able to do anything. I thought I had become an emotionally weak, wretched creature, and I blamed her for it.

So, I ran. I remembered old Torkoal's tales of adventure, and imagined myself great, so great, and then coming back to the village, and dazzling them with my awesomeness. With stars in my eyes, I sneaked away some food, 'borrowed' some Poke, and set off! To…

…

About three or so miles away from my village, I suddenly realized I had no idea where to go, and night was coming on fast. I panicked, slightly at first, but it mounted as the sun fell from the sky. I blundered into the forest, and eventually wriggled into a hollow space beneath a spreading oak, as I no longer had the will to continue. I fell into an uncomfortable sleep (who wouldn't be uncomfortable with tree roots digging into their backside?!), and was awoken by someone prodding me with a stick. I was startled, and pressed myself back as far as I would go. However, peeking through the sort of 'archway' between the roots, I saw my attacker was a worried-looking Cherubi. She managed to calm me down, and easily lured me out of the tree with an Oran pancake, which I'm a little ashamed to admit.

She asked me where I was headed; I replied that I honestly didn't know. The Cherubi was a little surprised, and then flatly asked me what I was thinking when I left home. I tell ya, I must have been red as a beet. I mumbled something about wanting to become an explorer. She smiled, clearly amused (at my expense) and replied that all explorers are required to apprentice at a Guild before they are allowed to operate. And then, in a wonderful act of kindness, she offered to let me ride with her and her caravan to Treasure Town, where I could apprentice at the Guild there (*Sob* I was so touched).

We reached the town a few days later. We said goodbye, hope we meet again, yada-yada-yada. She left me standing beside the Kecleon shop, whom she had just made a delivery to. After politely asking the green chameleon which way the Guild was, I set off.

At first glance, the Guild was rather forbidding, at second glance, it freakin' _loomed. _I approached, in mounting terror, the sentry post (the Cherubi didn't know much about the Guild, but she had heard about the sentry post from a Persian). I had thought I had gotten my cowardly nature under control during they ride to Treasure Town, but apparently not. Hearing that booming voice from such a dark hole made me mindful of an old story that Torkoal had told me, a story about Giratina the demon and the Great Abyss. I thought I saw a spiked wing, and bolted.

I ran through Treasure Town, all the way to a cliff (which over-saw the ocean), where I caught my breath. Looking down at the waves, I actually half-thought about giving up, but no, I wanted to be an explorer _so badly. _After contemplating for a while, I realized that I needed to get my nerve up in order to face down that terrifying voice. So I sat there, staring at the waves, trying to psyche myself. For a while. Alright, a _long _time. When the sun touched the horizon, I reluctantly admitted that I wasn't going to be able to apply today, and looked around for someplace to stay. I brushed past some bushes on the way back to Treasure Town, and, much to my surprise, one of my feet didn't stop at the ground, so I overbalanced and fell through the 'bush.'

I tumbled down a few dozen stairs, and landed in a strange cavern. There was a large opening in the far side, which I realized was the cliff side, a fountain in the shape of an anchor, and a few barrels by the doorway (which I had just fallen through). There were no signs of belongings, and the barrels looked rather old, so I decided that that place was unlived in, and cleared out a space beside the barrels for my bed, as far away from the open cliffside as possible.

The next day, I tried to apply again, with the same results as the day before. Same with the day after that. And the one after.

Three days later, I hadn't gotten any closer to conquering my fear, and I had run out of Poke. So, thinking that 'today is the day!' and 'It's now or never!' I grabbed my good luck charm, and sped towards the Guild as if I had left a harvest worth of barleycorn there.

However, stepping onto that grate, I felt the same old fear as before clawing at my belly. I managed to stand a little longer, convincing myself that my 'good luck charm' would not be so easily thwarted, but, in the end, I thought the darkness seemed to be _bending _towards me, and I ran, carefully holding the 'relic fragment' in my teeth.

I arrived at the beach, heart still beating wildly. I dropped my carved rock in the sand and plopped down with a slight _oomph. _I stared at the waves, the sunset, the bubbles, and rotted in despair. How can I do this? I thought. It is beyond me. I tell ya, I had to bite back tears. I let my gaze wander, along the beach, along the redstone clifftop, along the dead body lying on the tideline, and at the infamous Beach Cave's rugged archway.

Wait, dead body? Are you seri_ous?! Holy Milktank, holy Milktank, holy Milktank. _

After running in circles for a while, I gradually calmed down. I let out a breath. 'Welp,' I thought to myself. 'There's nothing for it but to see if he's dead. Steel yourself, Carmine!' I gingerly approached the small blue-y creature. 'Hey,' I poked him. 'Hey, are you alright?' Crimson eyes snapped open, the nutty creature leaped to his feet.

Funny, the Riolu thought he was human! I'm still laughing over that, and at the time it took every inch of lady training I got from my mother to keep from 'rolling on the floor laughing.' I was about to take him up to 'ol Kangas' for a cup of _taf _and a whack to the head, when someone whacked _my _head and I went crashing into Caleb (that's the Riolu's name). I got up and was yellin' at them when I realized that they were mugging me! Yeah, me! The one pokemon in this entire town with no Poke! I tell ya, I was half amazed, half rooted to the ground in horror as they walked past me an' Caleb, carrying a certain rocky something with a pattern on it. It was my Relic Fragment. As you can imagine, I was full of reckless 'wrath.'

Oh-oh-oh? Caleb's awake! Sorry, but we'll have to cut this short, maybe later, okay?

-0-

I've stared at that last paragraph for a month or two, and I've decided to post it, carry on with the story, and continue it later. Review, please!

Signed, BrazenVulpine~


	4. Interlude 1

Because I can.

-0-

Three years after Caleb obtained the last of the seven treasures, a Rock Horn, he came across a tome in the chest of the formerly well-known explorer Scyther, who had made his base in a cave on the upper part of the Southeastern Islands. It was pure happenstance that Team Blue-vixen found the little hideaway – they were returning from a series of missions, carrying three outlaws and several recovered goods with them, when the Lucario sensed the old cave and the thin, faded aura of the dead explorer. It's a wonder he stopped at all. His team was tired, the day was drawing to a close, and if his senses weren't going loopy on him, the only way down to the cave was to jump from the cliff edge and land on a small ledge below. One foot to either side and he'd plummet to his death. But his curiosity was strong, and Caleb was in a somewhat whimsical mood. He told his team to go on ahead and took the leap down; he landed on his feet, perfectly balanced. He wasn't Guildmaster ranked for nothing.

There wasn't much in the hideaway. A dusty lantern, a small table and a half-finished Golden Apple. The cliffside cave was inaccessible to anyone who couldn't fly, and carrying furniture to a place like that was difficult and somewhat risky. But there was one thing that caught the Lucario's attention, an old chest, whose contents carried an aura of even greater age. The hinges complained as he threw back the lid. Inside were 7 books, 4 with cracked leather covers. Three of them, the ones with the whiter paper and newer covers, were clearly journals, which Caleb put to the side for later study. Three others, these falling apart and disintegrating in his hands, were written in a human language – he eyed them and snorted. From the notes in the margins, Scyther had presumed they were encyclopaedias from the ancient civilization of Luhumika. The Lucario knew they were from before that, what historians had termed H.R. – under Human Rule.

The last tome, however, partook of both these categories. It was very old, though not as old as the three human books. It was also written in footprint runes. It featured several items, some of which seemed too fantastical to be true. A locket that gave you the _Wonder Guard _ability when worn? A cape that allowed you to swim through shadows like water? Caleb flipped through the pages quickly, and almost passed by something he recognized. It was a picture of a Grass Cornet, identical to the one Team Blue-vixen had in Kangaskhan Storage. Beside it was a short description of its history and abilities, and a riddle as to where it was found. He nodded his head – the information was all correct, if unorganized. He flipped to the next page, which featured another of the seven treasures, the Ripple Clarinet. The adjacent page featured the Molten Baritone, the next the Icy Flute, the next…

The Lucario blinked. Instead of a Sky Piano, a Rock Horn, or the Terra Cymbals, the page featured an unfamiliar instrument called the 'Toxic Bassoon.' He read the description. The Toxic Bassoon's abilities were similar to each of the seven treasures, and the description was roughly the same length as the others. No more effort and no less effort had gone into it. It didn't look like a scam. If not for the fact that the name of the collective instruments _was _the 'seven' treasures, Caleb would have said that the Toxic Bassoon existed. He absently flipped to the next page, and stared at the paper for a total of two seconds before he realized he was looking at another instrument, this one entitled the 'Mind Chimes.' He went through the next few pages, and while he did find the Sky Piano, a Rock Horn, and a pair of Terra Cymbals, they were scattered among more strange and fantastic instruments that were starting to look more and more credible.

There was a different riddle in each description, telling where each of the sacred objects could be found. It was getting dark outside, so the Lucario went back to Treasure Town, taking the book with him. The next day he showed the tome to his teammates Carmine and Mirth. They agreed to help him and they set to decoding the first riddle, the one about the Toxic Bassoon. It took them a full day, cross-checking the various phrases against likely mystery dungeons. Eventually they went to Spinda's Café for a break, and it was there that Caleb cracked the code. While he drank his Purple Gummi Puree, it occurred to him that the place they were looking for might be the so-called Purple Dip, a wide valley that continually spewed so much poisonous gas that only Poison-types could survive longer than five minutes in the resulting purple fog. He told his cohorts what he thought, and they agreed that yes, that could be it. The sun hung low in the west, though, so they spent their last hour and a half of daylight stocking the Treasure Bag for the next day.

The next day, Caleb got up early and headed out. Neither Carmine nor Mirth would be able to accompany him, for the fumes that made the Purple Dip uninhabitable would likely kill them if they tried to enter. Not the Lucario, though. Being a partial Steel-type, he could stand up to the poisoned air for hours, if not days. He arrived at the dungeon's location and stood on a small incline for a moment, surveying what he had to walk into.

The land dipped sharply away into a large, bowl-shaped valley, and it was mainly gray dirt and stone, sparsely decorated by dead weeds. Not that he could see much of it. Shortly after the beginning of the decline there was…gas. Twisting, swirling, an endless wall of airborne poison, all of bruised colours, purple being the most prevalent. The pillar of fumes stretched its way into the sky, darkening the day with its size and unnaturalness. Even where the Lucario stood, the air was not clean. It was dusty, was full of specks he could almost see, and everything was veiled with a thin sheen of purple. He could already feel the poison beginning to eat away at his lungs. He pulled a Pecha Scarf from his Treasure Bag and wrapped it around his muzzle. The Scarf would help, but in these conditions it was only a matter of time before the thing disintegrated from the strain. He took a deep breath – was the edge already turning purple? No matter, he had three more.

Caleb took a step forward, then another, the fog becoming heavier with each step. By the time he entered the dungeon, he could only see with his aura senses.

He tried to walk forward for a while, as the center of the valley, where the fumes were thickest, was where he was aiming for. However, the poison fog interfered with his senses, overloading his head with images of purple and ghastly blue. The Lucario couldn't pick out a solid point in the whole of that quagmire, so he was unable to figure out where he was, much less where the center was. He stood there for a time, trying to force his senses through the fog and find some landmarks. After several failures, he began to realize that in the Purple Dip, he was blind.

Suddenly a Weezing appeared out of the fog, and judging by its face, it was just as surprised to see Caleb as Caleb was to see it. The Lucario reacted first and sent the floating purple blob careening back into the fog, unconscious and unlikely to wake for the next three days. Caleb cast about until he found the pokemon's limp form, and as he frowned at it, he began to get an idea. He knelt and pressed his palm against the Weezing's skull-and-crossbones mark, adding a portion of his aura to the Poison-type's aura, making it turn an eerie bluish violet colour, a colour that he could pick out of the surrounding poison.

Then he stood and placed his paws together, concentrating. The Lucario let out a _Dark Pulse, _which temporally blew back the surrounding fog, allowing him a brief glimpse of the area. And the nearby Koffing, Toxicroak, and Ekans to catch a glimpse of him. As the murky blue and purple mist flowed back into place they came barreling on, and were met by the Guildmaster ranked leader of Team Blue-vixen, who had accidently split Mt. Avalanche in two once when he'd gotten 'excited.' Suffice to say, the Poison-types were lying beside the Weezing in short order. The Lucario repeated what he had done to the Weezing to each of the prostrate pokemon, and then rooted an Escape Orb out of his Treasure Bag.

He warped himself and the four Poison-types outside the poison valley, right to the incline where he had first surveyed the Purple Dip. He checked the sun – it wasn't noon quite yet. Since the sun was precisely to his right, that meant he was on the south end of the valley. He picked up the Koffing, the Ekans and the Toxicroak, and ran, ran, ran, and ran, until the sun was to his back when he faced the Purple Dip, meaning he was on the east end. Caleb put the Koffing down and continued until he was on the north end, where he deposited the Ekans, and then went onto the west end, where he deposited the Toxicroak, making it one pokemon for each cardinal point. It had been boring, somewhat tiring work, even for someone of his endurance. But if he was correct, if he drew a line from the Ekans to the Weezing and a line from the Toxicroak to the Koffing, where those lines crossed is where he would find the middle of the Purple Dip. And since each carried a bit portion of his aura, he would be able to sense them through the gas.

He had taken off the Pecha Scarf when he'd started running, he put it on again. Caleb plunged back into the swirling blue and purple fog, and walked until he truly couldn't see a thing. He checked the aura of the four unconscious Poison-types. His idea worked! He could sense them just fine. The Lucario angled his path towards where he guessed the middle would be. Midway there, he noticed that his Pecha scarf was starting to turn from pink to a bruised purple colour – a sign that its anti-toxin powers were failing. He held his breath while he switched it with another one from his Treasure Bag.

As he walked the fog began to thin slightly, more and more so the closer he got to the center. The Lucario caught sight of something several meters ahead. It seemed to be purple wall about as tall as he was, curved outward, and banded with evenly spaced black lines. It shifted, or was that just a trick of the mist? Regardless, Caleb crouched and stared at it carefully, every sense alert. His eyes were unreliable, but his aura senses revealed to him an enormous Arbok curled right in front of him, clearly awake. His ears, however, caught the sound of deep, raspy singing.

_[Chorus:]_

And its go boys go  
They'll time your every breath  
And every day you're in this place your two days nearer death  
But you go

Well a process man am I and I'm tellin' you no lie  
I work and breathe among the fumes that tread across the sky  
There's thunder all around me and there's poison in the air  
There's a lousy smell that smacks of hell and dust all in me hair

_[Chorus]_

Well I've worked among the spitters and I breathe the oily smoke  
I've shovelled up the gypsum and it neigh 'on makes you choke  
I've stood knee deep in cyanide, got sick with a caustic burn  
Been working rough, I've seen enough, to make your stomach turn

_[Chorus]_

There's overtime and bonus opportunities galore  
The young men like their money and they all come back for more  
But soon your knocking on and you look older than you should  
For every bob made on the job, you pay with flesh and blood

_[Chorus]_

Well a process man am I and I'm telling you no lie  
I work and breathe among the fumes that tread across the sky  
There's thunder all around me and there's poison in the air  
There's a lousy smell that smacks of hell and dust all in me hair

_[Chorus 2x]_

Caleb slowly stood. He cleared his throat. "Nice song. What does it mean?" Through his aura senses he saw the huge Arbok whip around and stare at him through the twisting fog. After a moment, the giant cobra spoke in great, rasping tones. "Long, long ago, when humanssss were ssstill in the land, they built a chem-ee-cal factory here, in the valley. The humanssss and the pokemon that worked there would ssssing that sssong as they worked, making products and byproducts that rendered this land unusssable and hazzzardoussss."

"Yes, hazardous," "Yesss, hazardousss." The Lucario suddenly noticed that they were surrounded by pokemon, all Poison-types, who hung on to every word the serpentine basilisk said. They continued to nod their heads as the snake continued. "One day the humanssss left the fac-tor-ee, but the pokemon they left behind – poisonous as the land they lived on – sang the sssong to their children, and they to theirs, and thossse to theirs. It is the sssong of the chemical worker, the humans who let their bodiesss rot and their lungsss burn for reasssonsss we will never underssstand."

"Never understand." "Yes, we never will."

"And now, why are you here, little wolf?" asked the Arbok. "Not to learn of the chemical workers, sssurely." The giant snake lifted itself and slid closer to the Lucario, the better to see him. The 'little wolf' replied, "I'm afraid not. I am here for an instrument."

"An inssstrument?"

"Yes. It is purple and has many holes, and it is long, hollow, and somewhat thin."

"Ahh," the cobra's tongue flickered in and out. "I know what you speak offff. The basssssoon."

"Yes."

"It wassss not alwaysss here. Long ago, almossst to when there were ssstill humans, a man-" the Arbok's eyes glazed over. "-or wasss it a pokemon? No matter. It gave the inssstrument to me, told me to passss it on to one who could defeat me." It leaned down to look at Caleb, eye to eye, purple scales filling his vision. "Can you defeat me, little wolf? You could tryyyy."

"If it behooves you," he replied. "I would like to try."

"Oh, then go on ahead. Come at meee." The Arbok's voice rasped and it reared to its full height, exposing the fearsome pattern on its chest for the first time. It also, unintentionally, completely exposed its chest to the Lucario's attacks. Normally, in any place and any time, the Arbok's foe would freeze in terror, or perhaps in shock of the snake's actual size. But this was Caleb, remember? All he saw was a large, painted target for his _Aura Sphere._ The eerily glowing ball actually hit the terrible face between the eyes, and to the Arbok, it was like getting hit in the ribcage with a mountain. When the giant snake could see again, it was lying on its back, and something was broken. It hissed. Maybe several things.

"Well?" asked the Lucario, who had not moved an inch from his original position. "Are you done?" The Arbok lifted its head a little and stared at the 'little wolf' with one yellow eye. It let its head flop back. "Yesss, I'm done. I don't think I could movvve if I tried." It's the end of its tail emerged somewhere from its tangle of purple coils and stretched towards Caleb. It was wrapped around vibrantly purple bassoon, identical to the one in Scyther's tome. The Lucario's hands trembled a little as he accepted the instrument. "Ahhh," said the Arbok, heard as though from far off. "At lassst, that isss off my hands. I had almost forgotten about it, you know."

Now, to see if it was genuine. He wiped a bit of suspicious-looking slime off the mouthpiece and put it in his mouth, and put his paws over the holes in a random formation. Then he put air through the bassoon, playing a long, clear, perfect note, which somehow reminded him of the blue and purple fog he was standing in. The Poison-types surrounding him and the gigantic snake leaned forward, seeming to drink in the sound like it was the best-tasting wine they'd ever had. The Arbok itself shifted and raised its head towards the noise, staring at the bassoon with amazement plastered on its face. The Lucario stopped and lowered the instrument, satisfied.

He put the bassoon in his Treasure Bag and tugged it closed. As he turned to leave, though, the enormous cobra spoke. "What…are you going to do now?" It said, still on its back. Caleb turned. "Well," he replied. "I'm going to go back to Treasure Town, and have a drink at Spinda's Juice Bar. Then I'll go back to my base and see how my teammates, Carmine and Mirth, have done in my absence. They're decoding the riddle to the location of the next musical instrument – there are seventeen of these, you know," he gestured to his Treasure Bag. "I have eight, but I mean to have them all. Tomorrow, if my cohorts have done their job well, will see going journeying to the location of the next instrument." He shrugged. "Why do you want to know?"

"Ssss," murmured the Arbok. "It'sss just that, I've lived here for time out of memmmory, and never looked beyond the bruisssed vaporsss in this valley. I'd like to see the world, I've grown bored of thisss mist, and," it looked at the Lucario's Treasure Bag. "Now that the bassoon is gone, I have no reason to stay. Might…might I go with you? I would like to see Treasure Town, and other instruments like the bassoon, playing their notes so clear. Might I?"

Caleb considered his proposal for about half a second. The Arbok was huge, and even if that size didn't translate to strength for some strange, hypothetical reason, it could still be used for intimidation tactics. "Certainly," he replied. "Come on up, then, I'd like to be back before nightfall." The purple snake slithered and twisted until it was upright, and the Lucario dug an iron, winged medal out of his bag. He held it towards the cobra. "Don't be surprised." He said, and suddenly they were standing on a small hillock, the fog of the Purple Dip down and to their left.

-0-

Steps sounded on the stairs of Sharpedo Bluff. Mirth glanced out the cave opening – it was sunset, and Caleb was late, which was rare. She stood and peeked through the door, up the staircase. A Lucario was standing on the steps, looking at something up above that Mirth couldn't see. "Hey, Caleb," She said, and the Lucario turned to her, unsurprised. "Why so late?"

"Hmm? Oh, well," he replied. "I had a new member dragging its carcass behind me. Of course I'm late." He looked back at the thing that Mirth couldn't see. "New member, eh?" she said. "Maybe I should meet him."

Caleb looked at her, and nodded. "He's just up here." Mirth frowned. Just before he turned away, she thought she'd caught a little smile on his face, which was odd – Caleb never smiled, except when he was pummeling the breath out of something 30 times his size. She followed him up the stairs, and as she did, she remembered something. "Oh, yeah, did you get the bassoon? Was it even there? I'm telling ya, if…" Her voice died away as they came out on top of Sharpedo Bluff. Sitting there was an Arbok the size of a Gharados, and the things chest markings took away Mirth's breath for a moment. The huge cobra smiled, showing impressive, almost 50 cm fangs. "Hello there, misssss." It said. "You must be Carmine, or perhaps Mirttthh."

Mirth didn't see it, but beside her Caleb's smile widened.

-0-

Yeah, sorry about not having updated in a while, but I've found that novelisation is no where near as fun as thinking up my own stuff. Sorry to all the dedicated fans (what few there are - can't be more than five) but this probably won't be updated very often, as I've lost interest. Not enough to stop, persay, but enough that there won't be much here for a long time.

Sorry,

BrazenVulpine~


End file.
